2026-02-11

I will be sharing time with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond. Ar an 19 Meán Fómhair, d'fhoilsigh Rialtas na hÉireann agus Rialtas na Breataine creatcháipéis maidir le hoidhreacht na dTrioblóidí. Bhí sé sin i gcomhréir lenár ngealltanas sa chlár Rialtais chun gníomh agus fócas marthanach a chur ar an dtuiscint agus na naisc atá ríthábhachtach chun síocháin agus athmhuintearas buan a chothú idir gach cearn dár n-oileán. Creidim go bhfuil síocháin agus athmhuintearas ar oileán na hÉireann bunaithe ar phlé oscailte agus macánta ar an am atá thart. Is cuid ríthábhachtach den chomhrá seo é an foilseachán a phléifidh muid inniu. The Operation Kenova report is the fruit of nearly a decade's work and compiles findings across Operations Kenova, Denton, Turma and Mizzenmast. Many of the details are uncomfortable. They relate to a terrible period in the history of our island but my position, and that of my party and the Government as a whole, is that the past must not be hidden. It must not be allowed to be a forum where different groups present not just their own narrative on the past but also their own set of facts. Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in the past three decades in getting certain elements and organisations to be open and honest about the behaviour of their members and supporters. Governments must operate to a clear standard of openness and accountability. Investigations such as this are required because of the terrible impact of these crimes on victims and their families. They deserve our support and our recognition of how long they have been waiting to know the truth. The Kenova report is an important step in delivering truth and transparency to these families. Despite this, as I have said repeatedly, it has not yet received the attention it deserves. For this reason, I very much welcome today's discussion. To start, I express my appreciation to Jon Boutcher, Sir Iain Livingstone and the entire Kenova team for the work that led to this hugely significant report. Their investigation has followed over 12,000 lines of inquiry, taken thousands of statements and interviewed hundreds of people. They faced and had to overcome many hurdles to get at the facts outlined in the report. As commendable as the level of detail is the nature of their approach. The Government has consistently called for a victim-centred approach to legacy issues. We should note that Kenova investigators worked to comply with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and victim-led investigations. It is to the team's credit that its investigations earned the trust and support of many of those affected and have been recognised by families and victims groups as a paradigm for how independent, historical investigations can achieve real results. The Kenova report details at length an investigation into potential criminal offences committed by the long-time senior Provisional IRA member and British agent known as Stakeknife, as well as potential offences by members of the security forces in respect of Stakeknife and others connected to him. The identity of Stakeknife is clear to everybody here and I have previously stated that the agent should be officially named by the United Kingdom Government. Particularly because of his close relationship with those who like to refer to themselves as the republican movement, it is widely known that Stakeknife was Freddie Scappaticci. He was recruited by the British Army, with which he worked between the late 1970s and 1990s. He was a prized informant and during this period, the British Army dedicated a 24-hour phone line within its intelligence section to his calls. Throughout this time, Stakeknife was implicated in what were by any measure "grotesque [and] serious" crimes committed for and with the Provisional IRA. This included 14 murders and the abductions of 15 individuals. The details uncovered by the investigation are harrowing, pointing towards shocking acts by the Provisional IRA, including "torture, inhumane and degrading treatment and murder", to quote from the Kenova report. The investigators further note: "These assaults and human rights violations were perpetrated to intimidate and subjugate the community." To intimidate and subjugate the nationalist and republican communities across the North was the Provisional IRA's intent and that of those who endorsed the Provisional IRA-Sinn Féin. That was the Provisional IRA's practice. No amount of aggressive revisionist history from its supporters will ever erase its crimes against its own community. It is widely accepted that the Provisional IRA was responsible for over 1,700 deaths in Northern Ireland. It was a scourge on all communities, including those communities it falsely claimed to protect. More than 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, it is staggering, as the investigators state, that the "republican leadership have failed to acknowledge and apologise for PIRA's murderous activities and the intimidation of families". In fact, things have reached the extreme position where public representatives and figures honour the Provisional IRA but launch legal cases against anyone who points to the vicious crimes that were committed. As utterly abhorrent and shocking is the British Army’s knowledge of Provisional IRA’s activities. The Kenova investigation extensively documents the fact that MI5 had sight of Stakeknife’s role within the Provisional IRA and its internal security unit and was involved from the outset in briefing Stakeknife through the force research unit of the British Army. The report details instances where murders "were not prevented or investigated when they could and should have been". What we see is a profound failure where, in the report's own words: Time and again, it would appear that protecting the agent outweighed protecting the life of a victim or protecting the right of their families to seek justice for the crimes committed against their loved ones. In some cases, had the Royal Ulster Constabulary, RUC, or An Garda Síochána been alerted by the British Army to what it knew was happening, people could have been rescued from the Provisional IRA gangs that were torturing and murdering them. While the activities of Stakeknife have dominated headlines, the full report also outlines the important findings of Operations Mizzenmast and Turma. Mizzenmast is an independent police investigation into the murder of Jean Smyth-Campbell who was tragically shot dead in a car in west Belfast in 1972. It uncovered significant information regarding the killing of Ms Smyth-Campbell that had been missed by previous investigations. Operation Turma is an investigation into the murders of three RUC officers, Sergeant Sean Quinn and Constables Paul Hamilton and Allan McCloy, in an explosion at Kinnego embankment near Lurgan on 27 October 1982. Operation Turma commenced in 2019. Alongside a detailed review of all the relevant information, the investigators adopted modern-era forensic examination, including the recovery of DNA material from the original crime scene. It stands as testament to the rigour of the Kenova team that after more than 40 years, an individual has now been extradited from this jurisdiction to Northern Ireland and is currently awaiting trial. The skilled work of the investigators shows that prosecution for historical crimes is possible. The full report also includes a summary of Operation Denton, a review into a series of sectarian attacks committed by a network of loyalists between 1972 and 1978, known as the Glenanne Gang cases. Operation Denton examined 98 incidents on both sides of the Border, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Dundalk bombing, the killing of Seamus Ludlow and the Silverbridge attack. It also examined a range of official and non-official inquiries including the McEntee and Barron inquiries and the work of the Oireachtas joint committee. It is deeply regrettable that the full publication of the Denton report is not available and has been delayed. In particular, I want to acknowledge the continuing frustration felt by the survivors and families affected by these shocking and tragic events. While we await the full publication of the Denton report, the summary remains important and offers official recognition that a network of loyalist paramilitaries and “corrupt members of the security forces”, primarily members of the UVF, working with members of both the RUC and UDR, murdered up to 120 people, among them those killed in Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974. It is also the case that suspected and known collusion by individuals, which is now confirmed in this report, had a corrosive effect on confidence in wider state forces, to the detriment of all. What we see in Kenova is British state forces' collusion with the Provisional IRA and, in the Denton summary, British state forces' collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. In both cases this led to extensive loss of lives and enabled intimidation across communities and across this island. We want to see the publication of the full report of Operation Denton in the near future and will continue to report regularly on efforts to make this happen. As I have said, the Kenova report confirms that legacy investigations can yield new and important information. This was achieved through a combination of the dedication of the investigators, the positive relations and trust established with families and victims, and productive North-South co-operation. The report emphasises the positive role played by the Government, including giving access to material held in this jurisdiction and close co-operation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. At every stage the position of my Government and every Government I have served in is that we must have absolute openness and accountability. We must demonstrate the standards which we are calling on others to meet. The investigators also underline the essential role played by An Garda Síochána which “assisted with access to records and forensic exhibits and gave considerable help in making contact with witnesses and persons of interest”. Guided by the principles of the Stormont House Agreement, the framework agreed by the Governments aims to promote reconciliation and provide mechanisms for truth, accountability and justice for victims and survivors of the Troubles, and their families. Reciprocal co-operation is at the heart of the joint framework. This includes the establishment of a dedicated unit within An Garda Síochána as a central point of contact for victims and families for Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána and for cross-Border co-operation on Troubles-related cases. An Garda Síochána has further committed, where possible, to answer questions that a family may have in relation to the investigation of a Troubles-related incident and to provide a report to the family. The Kenova report makes for difficult reading. It is a catalogue of horrific crimes, failure and hurt that affected all communities. In setting out the activities of Stakeknife, it sheds essential light on the harrowing pain and loss caused to individuals, to their families, and through the systematic exercise of terror to communities at large by the Provisional IRA. We should have an apology from Sinn Féin in respect of the activities of the Provisional IRA as documented in this report. It is long past time for that apology and renunciation of what happened to occur. It also shows the complicity of British state forces in allowing this to happen. The material contained in this report has provoked very strong emotions, and rightly so. One of the great tragedies of Irish history and of the most recent conflict is how little concern people have had for the victims of their own side. For too long, different interests have demanded accountability from others but done nothing for the victims of their own side’s violence. If you are sincere in wanting to build a real peace, reconciliation and shared future for all who share this island, then you cannot with any honesty deny so many people truth and accountability for the terrible crimes committed against their communities and their loved ones. Though difficult, truth and transparency will remain pivotal to achieving lasting peace and reconciliation across this island. The Kenova Report demands a frank and robust debate.

As the Taoiseach said, the Kenova Report is a difficult read but it is an absolutely essential one for all of us in this House. Everyone must face up to the wrongs of the past honestly and squarely if we are to achieve lasting peace and reconciliation on this island. The survivors and the families of the victims of the atrocities detailed in this report, and society as a whole, deserve no less. We should not seek to excuse or minimise the harm and suffering caused, no matter by whom. We must continue to seek answers and engage with difficult truths such as those found by the Kenova team. The Government is committed to playing its part in addressing the legacy of the Troubles across these islands and has taken, and will continue to take, concrete actions to make this a reality. I will return to those actions later. This report is a hugely important contribution to the search for answers and accountability. It represents the culmination of ten years of painstaking, rigorous work and I echo the Taoiseach's words of appreciation for the leadership provided by Jon Boutcher and Sir lain Livingstone and the dedication of the entire team behind the report. The work undertaken by Kenova across its four workstreams - Kenova, Denton, Turma and Mizzenmast - was wide-ranging and each is of significant public importance. I take this opportunity to express my condolences to all those who were injured or lost family members in the litany of incidents examined in the report. It is the sad reality of the history of the conflict, however, that the question of collusion, which has been so damaging to the pursuit of consensus on the legacy of the Troubles, is at the heart of two of these: Kenova and Denton. As the Taoiseach has rightly said, it is the corrosive effect of all collusion, both known and suspected, that undermines the confidence of families in legacy processes and our collective ability to move on from the conflict. In relation to Stakeknife, the allegations about this figure in the Provisional IRA and his links to British intelligence have been notorious for many years. Kenova has exposed the nature and extent of the collusion that took place in relation to Freddie Scappaticci. Kenova expressed caution about the careless use of the term “collusion”, but there can be no doubt that collusion took place in relation to Stakeknife. It was a perverse form of collusion in which the interests of British intelligence and their efforts to protect their informant at the heart of the Provisional IRA coalesced with the Provisional IRA's own murderous and illegitimate actions to judge and savagely punish those it deemed a threat to its aims. On the part of the British security and intelligence services, there were repeated failures to protect the victims of the Provisional IRA from harm and to bring those responsible to justice. Consequent on this were 27 cases in which Stakeknife was personally connected to the commission of serious criminal offences, including murder, attempted murder and unlawful imprisonment. Informants are vital to policing and security the world over, to the prevention and detection of crime and to safeguarding democratic governments from those who would seek to undermine them by terrorist acts or other threats. What is catalogued in Kenova goes far beyond the rules with which informants and their handlers must abide. Being an informant is not a licence to commit unlawful acts of the most serious kind or to act with impunity. I want to put this on the record to reassure the House. Stakeknife's personal role in the violence carried out by the Provisional IRA is shocking and grotesque but it should not obscure the wider reality that Kenova's casework covered a total of 101 murders and abductions by that organisation. Kenova has rightly framed the Provisional IRA's role in this savage violence against innocent people as grave violations of human rights intended to intimidate and subjugate the community. It is a fundamental principle of human rights that they are universal and transcend political affiliation. There was never any justification for these violations of human rights to occur, even in the course of a bitter sectarian conflict. In relation to Operation Denton, the summary report has underlined what was already either suspected or known in relation to many of the cases under review: that collusion between the UVF and the British security forces was taking place. While Denton concluded that there was no single, easily defined group operating from the Glenanne farm, as has been extensively alleged, it is no less shocking that Denton found evidence that there was a wider, more diffuse network of loyalist paramilitaries and members of the security forces that acted together to carry out vicious sectarian attacks across this island. Ten of those incidents occurred in this jurisdiction, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. While Denton found that the prospect of any successful prosecution in relation to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was extremely unlikely from a UK perspective, I would emphasise, as I have done repeatedly, that the Garda investigations remain open and An Garda Síochána is fully committed to actively pursuing any new evidence that comes to light. That remains the case for all unresolved Troubles-related cases. I want to take this opportunity to refer to another incident, not so well known and publicly remembered, that was also examined as part of Denton. That is the Dublin Airport bombing on 29 November 1975, in which John Hayes, an Aer Lingus employee, a 38-year-old father of three young children, was killed. The 50th anniversary of his death has passed, and it is regrettable that no one has been held accountable. I met his son, Brendan Hayes, recently. Without commenting on our discussion, I would say that it brought to the fore the lack of awareness of the importance of engaging with family members in the aftermath of such traumatic events, and the need to keep them informed of developments in the investigations. In the 1970s, family liaison was not an established concept in policing but, thankfully, policing today is in a very different position, and family liaison is embedded in policing practice. In the joint framework on legacy agreed by the Irish and British Governments last year, both Governments have recognised that we need to have a victim-centred approach to investigations into Troubles-related incidents.

I thank all of the Kenova team for their work. Over the past decade, they have shown that, almost 28 years since the Good Friday Agreement, legacy investigations and reviews can work. It is clear that the Kenova team has gone about this complex and sensitive work with care, placing victims and families at the heart of its endeavours. That is as it should be. In both the interim and final reports, the Kenova team is unsparing in its criticism of both the Provisional IRA and the failings of the British state. In Jon Boutcher’s own words, the actions of the Provisional IRA were the most “shameful and evil” he has ever encountered. Kenova found evidence that the Provisional IRA “took violent and punitive action against women and children in their family homes while detaining and torturing loved ones suspected of being agents”. As recommended by Kenova, it is time those responsible acknowledge and accept, finally, that these crimes were wrong, and apologise to the victims and the families who have suffered at their hands. Kenova also raises serious questions about the activities of British state forces in the running of agents, finding “clear evidence of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries by state actors.” For Jon Boutcher to conclude that it is probable that Stakeknife’s continued operation as an agent “resulted in more lives being lost than saved” is a damning indictment of a state apparatus that was meant to protect people at a time of conflict. Although Operation Denton does not provide evidence of collusion occurring at a political or strategic level, there is clear evidence that “paramilitary groups were regularly supplied with intelligence by members of the security forces”. This is deeply shocking and disturbing. I am conscious of the debate currently taking place in Westminster on legacy. This debate must, first and foremost, be about victims. Some try to make it only about veterans. Whether paramilitary groups or individual members of the security forces, when you commit a crime, you should face the consequences of your actions. Let us also recall that there are many among the community of victims, survivors and families who themselves are veterans, having served in the British Army or the RUC during the Troubles. However, the idea that members of the security forces have faced disproportionate investigation or prosecution is divorced from the facts on the ground. The vast majority of those prosecuted for Troubles-related offences to date - tens of thousands of loyalists and republicans - have been members of paramilitary groups. Between 250,000 and 300,000 British soldiers served in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner. Only 29, or 0.01%, were prosecuted for murder or manslaughter. We must continue to discuss the past on the basis of objectivity and evidence, just as Operations Kenova and Denton have done. In relation to Operation Denton specifically, I am disappointed that publication of the full report has been delayed by legal challenges. It is my hope that we will see the publication of the full report as soon as possible. As laid out by the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, the families of those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have waited more than 50 years for answers, and the Denton report can be an important contribution. The joint framework on legacy announced by the two Governments last September was a significant moment - the first agreement of its kind in over a decade. With it, we now have an agreed way forward on legacy, with reciprocal co-operation on investigations, inquiries and inquests at its core. Implementation will be key in both jurisdictions. Legislation is currently making its way through the House of Commons, and we are working hard, at pace, on our own implementation. This Government will not be found wanting. The findings from Operation Kenova bring to the fore the dark and violent events of our past. To leave the legacy of the Troubles unresolved is to hold back the essential work of reconciliation. It is to allow trauma to pass down the generations. The Kenova team has shown us that there is a way forward. It means placing victims, survivors and families, from all communities, at the centre of our work. This is what the joint framework aims to do. It gives us a chance to end this cycle. It lays the ground for a profound transformation, one that will facilitate greater truth, accountability and, where possible, justice for victims and their families.

Today, this House is asked to reflect on the findings of Operation Kenova, findings that go to the heart of how the conflict on this island has been understood, explained and justified for decades. For too long, the story of that conflict was presented as one in which the British state was a neutral arbiter, acting reluctantly, forced by circumstance into extraordinary measures. That story shaped public understanding, shaped political responses and, for decades, insulated grave wrongdoing from scrutiny. Before addressing those findings, I wish to say this clearly and directly. To all those who have suffered such grievous loss, I am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict, and for the hurt and loss endured, without exception. Those words reflect a genuine sense of sorrow and regret for everyone who was hurt and harmed during those years of violence. By that, I mean civilians, combatants and families whose lives were forever changed. Ní féidir le tuairisc ar bith, díospóireacht ar bith, nó próiseas polaitiúla ar bith a bheith mar réiteach iomlán ar an gcostas daonna. No report, no debate and no political process can ever fully address that human cost. Operation Kenova exposes the lie at the centre of the long-standing narrative of the conflict, which I mentioned at the outset. Its findings are stark and deeply disturbing. A senior British agent was involved in killings. The British state knew, and it protected him. It allowed violence to continue in order to preserve operational advantage. Victims were not warned, families were left in the dark, lives were treated as expendable. This was not an error. It was not a failure in oversight. It was a deliberate political choice. Kenova confirms what many families have long known, but which was long denied: collusion was not an aberration, but a defining feature of British state policy during the conflict. Its findings sit alongside decades of documented evidence, from the Glenanne gang, involving members of the RUC, UDR and loyalist paramilitaries, to the Stevens inquiries and the de Silva review into the murder of Pat Finucane. Each reached the same conclusion: collusion was real, systemic and sanctioned. Kenova corroborates that truth. As we discuss these findings, my thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones, families whose grief did not end with the passage of time, and whose dignity and persistence have been extraordinary. They engaged with Kenova in good faith, often at immense personal cost, reliving the most traumatic moments of their lives in the hope, not the certainty, of truth. All families are entitled to truth, justice and acknowledgement. That is not a political demand. It is a basic principle of the rule of law. It is precisely where Kenova was constrained. The report makes clear that MI5 deliberately obstructed the Kenova investigation. Information was withheld, investigators were impeded and investigative material was interfered with. This behaviour was not isolated. It mirrors earlier interference with judicial processes, including during Judge Cory's work on the Finucane case. What emerges is not confusion or coincidence, but a clear pattern: intelligence agencies actively managing exposure, and placing operational advantage above legality, accountability and the rights of victims. These were not marginal practices. They flowed from a counterinsurgency doctrine authorised at the very heart of the British state. The purpose was simple and chilling: to prevent the truth from ever fully emerging. Operation Denton reinforces this picture, confirming collusion between British state actors and loyalist paramilitaries in a campaign of systematic murder. Taken together, the Kenova-related reports expose criminality, collusion and cover-up at the highest levels of the British state, including actions carried out within this jurisdiction. That should alarm everyone in this House. Far from drawing a line under the past, these reports deepen the questions that confront us. Given these findings, the Irish Government must now actively consider a full public inquiry into British state activity in this jurisdiction, including the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and other killings of Irish citizens. This is not about history alone. It is about whether this State will assert its responsibility to its own people when another state has demonstrably acted unlawfully on this island. By withholding truth and blocking disclosure, British state actors have forfeited any claim to good faith in dealing with the past. The evidential gaps in Kenova echo what we saw in Bloody Sunday and countless other cases: gaps that were not accidental but that were engineered. Despite the scale of evidence, the message is unmistakable. British state actors will not be pursued, regardless of the dead. That is not the rule of law; that is impunity. This brings me to the British Government's legacy agenda. The legacy Act, with its sweeping national security vetoes and additional protections for state forces, is designed to close down truth, not to deliver it. That is not reconciliation; it is foreclosure. It places a clear responsibility on the Irish Government. If Westminster's legislation fails to meet human rights standards or fails to command the confidence of victims, Ireland cannot and must not be party to it. There cannot be quiet acquiescence, no technical compliance, no diplomatic shrug. Ireland cannot lend its consent to another British-authored process designed to entrench impunity for acts that claimed the lives of hundreds of Irish citizens. That is why the inter-state case must remain firmly on the table. To withdraw it would be to signal a retreat, not reconciliation. The publication of the Kenova report is not the end of the story. It is another chapter in a long struggle between families seeking truth and a state determined to avoid it. The question now, therefore, is not, "What will Britain do?" The question now is, "What will Ireland accept?"

What about yourselves?

Kenova exposes a central truth about the conflict on this island. Collusion was not accidental. It was not exceptional. It was embedded in British state policy. Today I want to focus on an issue this House cannot avoid. Many of the crimes exposed by Kenova did not stop at the Border. They crossed into this jurisdiction. When they did, Irish citizens were entitled to the full protection of Irish law, but they did not receive it. The most searing example remains the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the single deadliest attack of the conflict, with 34 people killed and hundreds more injured. While Operation Kenova did not investigate those bombings and made no findings on collusion in that case, it did expose the protection of agents, the withholding of intelligence and the prioritisation of operational advantage over human life, which is all directly relevant to the understanding of how such atrocities were allowed to occur. More than 50 years later, not one single person has been held to account in respect of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Reports have been published and limited investigations have been carried out but this State has never delivered a full public inquiry with statutory requirements to compel all relevant evidence, particularly material held by British authorities. Nor has there ever been a sustained diplomatic or legal pressure applied to force disclosure from the British Government. Families were not failed by a lack of sympathy, although in many years since they did not even get that, but they were particularly failed by the absence of urgency and resolve on the part of this State. That failure did not end in 1974. In 1975, John Francis Green was murdered in Monaghan. To this day there has been no prosecution. Serious and unresolved concerns remain regarding the involvement of the British state forces. Again, despite credible information and repeated appeals from his family, there was no investigative urgency matching the gravity of the crime. Once again, the burden of seeking truth fell on grieving families rather than on the institutions that were there to protect them. Deadly attacks linked to the conflict continued here in the years that followed. Almost forgotten is the bombing at Dublin Airport which killed Aer Lingus worker John Hayes from Balbriggan and injured nine others. Decades later, there is still no clarity for the Hayes family as to whether a full investigation file was ever sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. That uncertainty alone speaks volumes about the inadequacy of the investigation. As in other cases, questions arose about access to intelligence, forewarning and whether lines of inquiry involving British state actors were ever fully pursued. Once again, not a single person held to account. Even into the 1990s, the attacks continued. At The Widow Scallans pub in Dublin, Martin Doherty was murdered and a massacre was only narrowly averted by his actions. Again, no prosecution. Again, no closure. None of these were isolated incidents. From the 1970s through to the 1990s, attacks were carried out in this jurisdiction by loyalist paramilitaries operating with the knowledge, assistance or protection of British state forces. In too many cases, investigations stalled, lines of inquiry involving British state actors were never fully pursued and files went cold. The truth is that the evidence says quite clearly that the authorities in this State often stepped back when they should have stepped forward. There was and is an abdication of responsibility, a dereliction of duty, a shameful record. Operation Kenova confirms that British intelligence agencies were prepared to obstruct investigations, withhold evidence and interfere with due process to protect agents. That raises an unavoidable question. How much more could have been done and how much more could have been uncovered if this State had insisted early, forcefully and consistently on full accountability for crimes committed within this jurisdiction? Sovereignty has to mean something. It carries responsibility. The first duty of any sovereign state is to vindicate the lives of its citizens.

Are you blaming the State for Scappaticci?

That is why we must now confront the failures in how many cases have been handled here. Did you want the floor, Taoiseach?

I am wondering are you blaming the State for Scappaticci.

I am not, but I will tell you this, Taoiseach.

Extraordinary. You have not mentioned it either.

On the first occasion that I had to attend a commemorative event on Talbot Street to remember the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the involvement by this State on that occasion was the presence of special branch men who were taking notes of the family members. That speaks to what I am talking about today.

Hear, hear.

Ah, come on. That is outrageous.

The Irish Government supported the establishment of a historical investigations unit under the Stormont House Agreement in 2014 and legislated for co-operation in 2019. That unit was never delivered. Instead, the British Government introduced the shameful legacy Act, rejected by victims and widely criticised. If this State recognised the need for historical investigative units in the North, it cannot credibly argue against establishing an independent, time-bound unit here. Seeking truth about Dublin-Monaghan, John Francis Green, the Dublin Airport bombing, the bombings in Castleblayney, Belturbet and elsewhere, The Widow Scallans and other attacks - this is not about reopening wounds. Those wounds have never healed because the truth was withheld. Justice was not unavailable; it was deferred and denied. The Kenova report has stripped away many of the old excuses. No one can now claim that collusion is speculative. No one can pretend obstruction was accidental. After Kenova, ignorance is no longer plausible. The only question left is whether there is the will to act. Maybe the Taoiseach would like to take the remaining minute of my time to answer that question. Is the will to act there right now?

Are you serious? You have some brass neck, I can tell you that.

Taoiseach, you know full well comments are through the Chair. We will move on to Deputy Bacik.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the recently published Kenova report. I pay tribute to Jon Boutcher, Iain Livingstone and the Operation Kenova team. Their work was victim-centred and groundbreaking. They have proven that an ECHR-compliant investigation into a Troubles-related incident is possible, despite decades of denial and obstruction by successive British Governments. I will speak to various issues raised by Kenova and will raise several questions for the Minister and the Taoiseach throughout my contribution. I will follow up in writing on those. Any discussion of the Kenova report and its operation must begin, as the report itself does, with the interests of victims, survivors and their families. I wish to offer the condolences of the Labour Party to all those injured, bereaved and affected by the atrocities committed during the Troubles. This is the report of victims and survivors. Their decades of pain must remain at the heart of this debate. Nothing can undo the suffering they have endured as a result of the bloodshed. Fully implementing the Kenova report's recommendations can, of course, help and begin to address the suffering. In exposing the activities of Freddie Scappaticci, or Stakeknife, the Kenova report offers clear evidence of collusion and cover-up by the British state, resulting, as the report says, in more lives being lost than saved. Yet, we know that the British state has not fully accepted responsibility. Instead, we have heard vague regret, a blame game and an unspoken pact of silence that has left victims with half truths and justice denied. I welcome the fact that each of Government spokesperson has named Stakeknife as Freddie Scappaticci. We all know that he killed, abducted, tortured and maimed. He was, in effect, a serial killer who was protected and even paid by the British state to terrorise and murder within his own community. This was all done under the direction of the self-appointed, so-called army council of the Provisional IRA. I welcome the fact that we are naming him in this House. I also welcome the fact we are speaking openly about his activities. It is extraordinary that he was allowed to kill with impunity. He was resettled, financially rewarded, shielded from justice and protected to the end and beyond, extraordinarily to the same level as the British royal family in some instances, with even the publication of his will blocked, as the report makes clear. The handling of Stakeknife is a glaring example of British security elites' treatment of the Troubles as a conflict without rules, one where innocent lives did not matter and where the rule of law was breached. Operation Kenova did not just examine the collusion by the British state. The report also makes clear that the republican movement protected Freddie Scappaticci. His victims were silenced to protect the movement. The reality is that for them directing terrorism had nothing to do with political ideals, but everything to do with power, self-enrichment and the exercise of dominion over communities they claimed to defend. To this day, as the report makes clear, neither the IRA nor the republican leadership have issued an apology to the many victims of Freddie Scappaticci and the IRA's internal security unit. Operation Kenova recommended that the republican leadership apologise for the provisional IRA's abduction, torture and murder of those accused or suspected of being agents and that it acknowledge the harm and intimidation suffered by victims and bereaved families. The Taoiseach earlier called for Sinn Féin to make an apology in this vein. I support that call. Will the Government make time in the Dáil for such a statement to be made? It should be a clear and meaningful apology, specifically to the victims of the Provisional IRA's campaign and those killed as a result of Freddie Scappaticci's actions. This is not about partial truths; it is about full truth and honesty. I listened to the Sinn Féin leader. We need to hear full truth and honesty in this House when we are having a debate on a report as important as the Kenova report. This has a bearing on other cases too, as I think we are all aware. I raise by way of example the case of Denis Donaldson, which I have raised before in this House. While Scappaticci was shepherded to safety, by both his British and republican handlers, Donaldson was exposed and, of course, was murdered in Donegal in 2006. While his killing took place after the Good Friday Agreement came into place, it was clearly a Troubles-related incident. I reiterate my call for a cross-Border public inquiry into his killing. The Minister should advocate for the investigation of Mr. Donaldson's case and other cases that were barred by the Legacy Commission, notwithstanding that some incidents occurred outside of the timeline chosen. I want to move next to issues around MI5 and to its failure to disclose several files to Operation Kenova until after the investigative process had taken place. The absence of full disclosure has failed victims and their families, including those of Sean Brown and the disappeared. This clearly has a bearing, not just on the investigation that is reported, but on the legacy processes under construction today. On Tuesday next, I will be hosting Claire Hanna of the SDLP and a range of other speakers for a briefing on legacy issues and the legislation the Minister stated that we are going to be bringing through this House. I would welcome attendance by Members across the House. If the national security veto is used to conceal evidence of collusion or double standards, the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will fail. Does the Minister accept that the legacy commission should be liberated from the Northern Ireland Secretary of State's national security veto? Will the Government push for a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown and the restoration of all inquests? Can the Minister clarify the position regarding the managed late disclosure of files by MI5 to Operation Kenova? Operation Kenova did a lot to expose farcical, blanket application of the neither-confirm-nor-deny, NCND, policy adopted by the British Government in legacy-related cases. It is a tool that should be used to ensure confidence in intelligence policing, but it has been used to conceal collusion. We know it has be waived in the past. I commend the Chief Constable on his efforts in seeking a policy that is victim centred and transparent. Does the Irish Government believe that the British Government should review the policy of NCND in all legacy-related cases? On accountability, 29 files were sent by Operation Kenova to the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland but not a single prosecution has followed. I support the SDLP's call for independent counsel to review the files concerned. I would welcome the Minister's support in respect of that call. What next? There are many learnings to be had from the Operation Kenova investigation. John Boutcher created new structures for how we can inquire into the past and investigate harms, injustices and murders committed in the past. Operation Kenova demonstrated an admirable rigour. We must ensure now that other tragedies such as the Omagh and the Dublin-Monaghan bombings are investigated with the same rigour. I agree that it is deeply regrettable that the Denton report has not been published in full. We need to ensure that independence is at the heart of all investigative work. I have submitted parliamentary questions on issues around the operation of the Garda legacy unit. Can the Minister outline what independent oversight will be put in place with its operation? Operation Kenova made real testimony central to its work. The Minister recognises the importance of the family reports delivered by Operation Kenova. Will the Garda legacy unit adopt the same methods? Indeed, Operation Kenova saw real accountability. In that context, will the Minister make a statement on the Government's position regarding further protection of veterans, as signalled by Hilary Benn as part of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill? The Kenova report tells a story about the worst of a state that signally breached the rule of law and engaged in appalling collusion and cover-up. The British state was meant to protect individuals. However, we saw instead the loss of lives that the state was meant to guarantee. Ultimately, the Kenova report is about ensuring there is confidence in the rule of law, because the activities of the British state and the activities of paramilitary organisations undermined the rule of law and human rights protections. We need to look at the impact of that undermining. We see the consequences, which are evident in the absence of faith in institutions now. Three decades on from the ceasefire, 25 years since its establishment and nearly 30 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Catholic recruitment to the PSNI has not reached 30%. Recruitment levels in some Border countries are in the low single figures. In that vacuum, suspicion and division are entrenched. We can see the possible and real consequences that would result from a Farage premiership in Britain in the future for our island, for the peace process and for the Good Friday Agreement. Failure to implement the Kenova report's recommendations will erode trust further. Failure to implement a truly honest and robust legacy framework will do the same. Dealing with our past is not limited to any one piece of legislation or to the outworkings of the joint framework. It must permeate the tone of our politics and how our communities interact across the island. As a Connollyite republican, I aspire to see a united Ireland, as the Labour Party does, but I enunciate that position from a place of understanding that there are those who do not agree. We must work to ensure that we can build a consensus across the island to deliver the shared island that most of us in this House aspire to. As stated, on Tuesday next I will host a briefing in the Oireachtas on the legacy legislation. I would be glad to welcome the Minister, other Ministers and colleagues from across the House to come and hear from the SDLP, the ICCL, the CAJ and Amnesty International as to what the legacy framework can and must mean. In seeking to secure a shared future on this island, we cannot miss the opportunity to deal properly and robustly with our past. To victims and survivors of the Troubles, I say this: the Labour Party is committed to dealing fairly with the past, to truth - not selective truth or partial truth - to accountability and to justice and to legacy mechanisms which meet standards under the European Convention on Human Rights. No individual can be placed beyond the reach of the courts. This is about people who have been hurt, who have suffered and who have been bereaved. Their right to truth and justice is absolute, not partial or selective. The Kenova report tells us how we can honour the rights of victims to truth and justice. We in this House have a duty to abide by that and learn from the principles of and the recommendations contained in this report.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the findings of the report relating to Operation Kenova. I would like to add my voice to those of previous speakers in expressing gratitude to all of the Operation Kenova team for their work over the past ten years. They have proven, beyond doubt, that legacy investigations and reviews do work. Their stellar commitment has shone a light on a very dark part of this island's history and exposed the institutional failings that helped that darkness to prosper. This investigation delved into what, to say the least, is a very challenging subject for many people. The report makes for very difficult reading. The Troubles were without doubt one of the most difficult and heartbreaking chapters in the history of this State, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Across 30 years, the seemingly countless atrocities that occurred brought a raw and constant pain to the people of this island. The existence and presence of Stakeknife, acknowledged by the Kenova team to have caused the deaths of more people than he spared, is one such atrocity. This investigation needed to be handled with sensitivity and care for the victims, the survivors and their families, and with a search for truth placed right at the centre of its work. We all agree, on the basis of the findings in the report, that the Kenova team prioritised seeking truth. It prioritised providing long overdue answers to families and demonstrated that meaningful engagement with victims is both possible and, crucially, essential. This victim-centred approach must be, without doubt, the model that future legacy investigations follow. Respect should rightly be given to the dignity and courage shown by victims, survivors and their families over the past ten years. In its final report, the Kenova team highlights serious wrongdoing by both paramilitary and state actors. It exposes collusion by and failures on the part of security forces, condemns the IRA’s brutality and states very clearly that even if crimes predate the Good Friday Agreement, anyone involved, whether terrorists or members of the security forces, should face consequences. I am mindful of the ongoing debate on legacy issues in the UK and the calls by some for a door to be closed on the Troubles once and for all. However, I am of the opinion that we do not learn from history by ignoring it. We learn from history by engaging with it and by listening to those who lived through it. As a former member of the Defence Forces, I understand that justice for veterans without victims is an empty justice. To properly reconcile ourselves with the past, we must take into consideration the views and lived experiences of victims. This is why I am heartened to see the Government taking the lead by engaging with the Government of the United Kingdom on the joint framework on legacy. This framework recognises the crucial importance of co-operation in legacy matters. At its heart lies the conviction that by working together on our shared history, we can pave the way for a collaborative and peaceful future. Today, we are blessed to live on a peaceful island. Our young people have no recollection of what it meant to live through that terrible time. We must always remember, however, that peace is not inevitable. We should never take it for granted. I know that this Government has no intention of taking peace on this island for granted. I look forward to seeing the joint framework on legacy progress over the coming months.

Operation Kenova was deliberately undermined by the British state agency, MI5. The actions of the latter were designed to block the truth of Britain’s dirty war in Ireland. It is clear that the legacy investigations and reviews published as part of final report relating to Operation Kenova provide further confirmation of collusion, criminality and cover-up by the British state. Operation Denton confirms collusion between British state actors and loyalists in a campaign of systematic murder. Collusion was absolutely no illusion. Pat Finucane, the Glenanne gang, Sean Graham's betting shop, Loughinisland, Stakeknife - the list goes on. I was in the Widow Scallan's pub on the night it was attacked by loyalists. Hundreds of people escaped due to the fact a bomb failed to go off, but also as a result of the bravery of volunteer Martin Doherty that evening. Our thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones and those who campaign for truth and justice. I pay tribute to their courage in engaging with a process that often meant reliving the worst moments of their lives. I also pay tribute to groups like the Relatives for Justice that worked tirelessly for truth for the victims. I acknowledge there is no hierarchy in grief. All families are entitled to truth and justice. The findings in the Kenova report shine a glaring light on the lengths to which the British establishment and its agents were prepared to go to evade their responsibilities and to establish and handle loyalist death squads and undercover armed groups such as the Military Reaction Force. The British Government, MI5 and other state actors, have broken the law to cover up their parts in collusion. They did so by giving the green light in respect of what happened and by averting their eyes while innocent people were murdered and maimed. The British establishment allowed its agents and loyalist murder gangs to act with impunity and then left grieving families without any closure or information on the deaths of their loved ones. This cover-up continues, particularly as the British Government intends to use the joint legacy framework and new legislation to provide sweeping national security vetoes to shut down access to truth and justice and additional protections for state forces whose members supplied bombs and ammunition to the UVF, the UFF and others to carry out large-scale atrocities across the North and in the Twenty-six Counties. The Government cannot stand by another British-authored whitewash designed to conceal Britain's dirty war in Ireland, which claimed the lives of many hundreds of Irish citizens both sides of the Border.

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on Operation Kenova. At the outset, I welcome the findings in the final Kenova report and to commend the work done by those involved. The pursuit of justice after many years is difficult. The Kenova report has demonstrated that it can be done, particularly when we follow a framework that prioritises victims and their families. We need to acknowledge that this has taken a long time, that people have died waiting for the truth and that justice delayed is justice denied. The report’s consultation with the WAVE Trauma Centre, whose representatives recently spoke to the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, is a welcome approach., and one that aims to put victims and their families first in the search for justice and reconciliation. I hope that this will have positive implications for future peace building activities. The report delivers long-awaited confirmation of responsibility, accepting that there was “deplorable collusion” by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Ulster Defence Regiment and loyalist paramilitaries, which contributed to 127 deaths during loyalist attacks on Catholics in the early 1970s. This marks an important step towards greater transparency on the activities of state agents during the Troubles. Despite this progress, however, there is still a need for further clarity. The report illustrates that a lack of truth for victims of extrajudicial killings and their families persists. A review of the Kenova report published by the UK Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on 9 February 2026 reveals the extent to which the British Government’s policy of neither confirming nor denying the identity of agents involved in paramilitary violence limited Operation Kenova's ability to complete a comprehensive and entirely honest investigation into state collusion and extrajudicial killings. A prime example of this limitation is the refusal to name the agent known to the British Government and to the families of the victims he killed as Stakeknife. The review ends with the following recommendation: It is not normal practice to name agents of the state, in this one instance it is appropriate, proportionate and strongly in the public interest for the Government to name the agent known as Stakeknife. We have been reassured that naming Stakeknife would not put any active agents at risk, discourage existing agents from continuing their work, or deter the recruitment of new agents. There is a frequent refrain when information on British state wrongdoing during the Troubles is withheld that the release of information would "undermine public confidence". It is not the truth being known or not which undermines public confidence; it is the fact that this level of collusion happened in the first place and that innocent people lie in their graves because of state agents like Stakeknife. If anything, information is desperately needed to provide not only justice to families but also confidence in the system for victims, families and communities affected by violence across the North. To withhold such information only invites a continuation of suffering, injury and grievance. On 19 September 2025, when the joint framework between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland was announced, we promised to rebuild the trust of the diverse communities of Northern Ireland and assured them that legacy issues can be addressed in a manner that is both sensitive and productive. The Irish and British Governments committed fully to “recognising that investigations into Troubles-related incidents should be victim-centred”. It is vital that here in Ireland we follow through on these commitments and that we use every lever available to us to ensure that our British counterparts do the same. It is clear from the report, however, that impediments to honest investigations are leaving the burden of seeking justice to traumatised and bereaved families and communities. Those families have bravely carried forward the campaign for truth. Today, the grandchildren of victims continue to fight for even the smallest measure of recognition for their lost relatives, whether through memorialisation, education or simply an official acknowledgement of the atrocities that occurred. In the absence of meaningful action from authorities, the burden of justice has been placed squarely on their shoulders, allowing victimhood and intergenerational trauma to persist. That is wrong. It is the responsibility of the authorities, which are guilty of historical collusion and which have failed past generations and which continue to fail them, to admit the fact of that collusion to the public and to themselves. As we approach the 28th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, I am reminded of the fragility of its peacebuilding framework, which has served as a blueprint for countries affected by conflict across the world. That international recognition demonstrates that there are valuable lessons in our experience here with regard to power-sharing, acceptance and the rebuilding of community from the ground up. There are also a number of lessons we must learn in return, and, of course, our peace can never be taken for granted. People continue to be failed by the British Government's persistent refusal to acknowledge its culpability for atrocities. That refusal threatens the legal framework of the Good Friday Agreement, which has already been shaken by Brexit, the legacy Act and now a potential UK withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. The latter underpins the Good Friday Agreement and remains as essential to the peace process today as it was in 1998. Any talk of an attempt to withdraw from the convention by the British Government expresses a disregard for the binding role it plays in the legislative framework of the agreement. That is equally true here, where the convention is also coming under attack, particularly with regard to migration. In recent years, both Governments have adopted tougher rhetoric on migration, increasingly framing the ECHR through the lens of border control and deterrence rather than as a broad rights-protecting instrument. Legislation such as the UK's Illegal Migration Act signals a willingness to limit the practical effect of certain convention rights in asylum and deportation cases, raising questions about compatibility with international obligations. Any narrowing of ECHR protections risks clashing with the explicit commitment in the Good Friday Agreement to incorporate and uphold convention rights in Northern Ireland. The agreement assumes broadly equivalent rights protections north and south of the Border. A more restrictive migration-focused approach could disrupt that balance. The Good Friday Agreement is built on mutual trust between the UK and Ireland, sustained by shared respect and standards for human rights. Moves perceived as weakening universal human rights protections, even in the migration context, may unsettle the delicate peace on this island. People and their human rights, not political parties or newspaper headlines, must be at the centre of peace and reconciliation. Governments have lost sight of this, as attested to by the unilaterally agreed legacy Act. That legislation prioritised a political closure of the Troubles over individual and community rights to truth, justice and accountability, which are crucial elements for reconciliation in a post-conflict society. By stopping normal legal routes and offering conditional immunity to those who caused harm, we deny the dignity and humanity of victims. Dr. Sandra Peake, CEO of the WAVE Trauma Centre, stated at a recent meeting of the Good Friday Agreement committee that the decision by the British Conservative Government in 2020 to dismiss the Stormont House Agreement: ... caused fundamental harm, particularly to those bereaved. The state was in effect saying those who had died no longer mattered and their cases were no longer of concern to the state. In an 18-month period, her organisation received over 1,000 new referrals from those bereaved who had not accessed services previously. While I welcome the findings of the Operation Kenova report, I remind the Government that while we are quick to celebrate and remember the progress of the Good Friday Agreement, we cannot forget the families blocked along the way from getting the justice they deserve. Their family members mattered and were loved. They deserve the truth. This is not history; it is a painful and present reality for many and it cannot be buried. It is vital to the peace process that the British Government name the state agents responsible and accept responsibility for the role of the British state in those deaths.

Is rud suntasach é foilseachán na tuairisce ar Oibríocht Kenova. Is léiriú cuimsitheach é ar scéalta dorcha ár n-oileáin agus ar thréimhse a d'fhág fulaingt, pian agus cailliúint inár ndiaidh. Is meabhrú dúinn é freisin go bhfuil scéalta na n-íobartach le hinsint agus le cloisteáil fós, agus gur gá dúinn freagra cuimsitheach a thabhairt dóibh. Like colleagues on all sides of the House, I acknowledge the immense dignity and perseverance shown by the victims and families whose stories lie behind this report. They have carried unanswered questions and deep hurt for decades. Their courage is the foundation of the investigation that led to the publication of the report relating to Operation Kenova. They should and must be central to everything that is done in the work of legacy. I welcome the publication of the report as a critical piece of work in bringing together findings across the reports on operations Kenova, Denton, Turma and Mizzenmast. As has been outlined, the investigators followed more than 12,000 lines of inquiry, interviewed hundreds of people and overcame major obstacles to uncover the truth. It was a huge effort and recognition is due to Jon Boucher, lain Livingstone and the entire Operation Kenova team. The report is unsparing in its assessment of the Provisional IRA's crimes, which include torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, murder and the intimidation of the very communities it claimed to represent. Accountability cannot differentiate, and nor can it be selective. Worryingly, the report also lays bare the deeply troubling failures of the British state, including MI5 and the Force Research Unit, whereby protecting its agent Stakeknife was repeatedly prioritised over preventing murder, intelligence was not shared with law enforcement on either side of the Border and the fact murders could and should have been prevented. Time and again, as the report states, the protection of Stakeknife outweighed the protection of innocent lives. This fact must be confronted honestly. It brings into focus one of the more horrific findings, which is that more lives were lost than saved because of the focus on protecting one agent whom, even now, the British Government declines to name. We cannot ignore the important findings of Operation Mizzenmast and Operation Turma, including the forensic breakthroughs that have enabled justice to be done in a number of instances. Cases like these demonstrate clearly that truth can still be found and justice remains possible. While the full report relating to Operation Denton has not been published, the summary provides some official recognition that a network of loyalist paramilitaries and corrupt members of the security forces were involved in activities during the Troubles. The corrosive impact of that collusion on confidence in policing and on victims' families cannot be overstated. It is deeply regrettable that the full Denton report has not yet been published. Survivors and families have waited far too long. This House has on three occasions sought access for an independent international judicial figure to all original British files relating to the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings. I repeat the call in that regard today. Openness and accountability are not merely standards we demand of others; they are standards we must demonstrate ourselves. The delay in the publication of the full Denton report is disappointing, and deeply so for the families affected. Its completion and release are necessary steps in advancing truth and honouring our obligations under the joint framework on the legacy of the Troubles agreed last year by the Irish and British Governments. Importantly, the framework recognises that cross-Border co-operation is essential. It commits both Governments to mechanisms that support reconciliation, justice and truth. An Garda Síochána has played a role in assisting the Operation Kenova investigators, including with access to records and so on and in facilitating contact with witnesses and families. This is the model of co-operation that must continue. This debate brings into focus the need for us to constantly think about how we can evolve the Good Friday Agreement. The discussions and setbacks we have seen in the area of legacy over the past few years have served as a reminder that the success of the agreement and its institutions is fragile, is ultimately predicated on the roles of the two Governments as co-guarantors and that they must both be aligned in their vision and their view of what the settlement should represent in terms of individual values. That is why work on the joint framework on the legacy is an important step towards achieving that. Ireland's commitment to peace has always rested on the principles of truth, justice, reconciliation and respect for the rule of law. Kenova adds to and mirrors those principles by shining a light where darkness was once allowed to spread, by confronting uncomfortable truths for all actors in the peace process, and by ensuring, most importantly, that victims and their families are not forgotten or silenced. Is cur chuige tábhachtach é seo a léiríonn an tábhachtach a bhaineann le héisteacht agus le cuimhniú ar gach rud atá tar éis tarlú d'íobartaigh le linn na Trioblóidí. Ní féidir le haon duine atá ainmnithe sa tuairisc seo éalú ón bhfreagra a gcaithfidh siad a thabhairt ar a bhfuil déanta acu nó ar a bhfuil déanta ag a gcuid eagraíochtaí féin. Operation Kenova demonstrates that even decades after crimes are committed, rigorous victim-focused investigations, while constituting immense effort and commitment from those involved, can deliver truth, acknowledgement and the possibility of closure. The work is painstaking and it can often be painful but it is work we must continue if we are sincere in our commitment to a lasting and just peace.

The issue of the Operation Kenova report has gone on for ten years and at the core of it is the very concept that the British state broke the law and set out to break the law. I was just thinking earlier of Michael Davitt. He used to say the law was little more than another weapon in the government's arsenal to keep the lord in his mansion and the peasant in his place. It is very much the same thing here because the law clearly only applies to certain people and not to those who are the state operators in respect of all of this. The thousands of people who suffered as a consequence of the conflict are all too aware that the law was something that was there only for some - only for the select few. Certainly, for those who suffered so much at the hands of the people who were involved in all of this, not just our sympathies but our commitment has to be that truth can be restored. There has to be a pathway to do that. The withdrawal of the British Government from the Stormont House Agreement and from many of the other agreements that were put in place after the Good Friday Agreement tells us there is a huge reluctance by the British state to actually engage meaningfully when it comes to truth and reconciliation. That is why we have to be very firm when it comes to understanding that both the Irish and British Governments are guarantors of that agreement and both have a role to play in it. When we examine these reports, they lay bare the reality of the collusion of the British state with agents it hired, paid, propagated and moved in and out through different parts of the conflict, always to its own benefit. They were always used to the benefit of the British state. That is why we are in this situation and it continues to cover up that reality. It went to the very core of the British establishment. It went right to Whitehall. It was not some loose arrangement as they tried to push people out there to consider that was the way it happened. It did not happen that way. It went straight to the centre of Whitehall. It was a determination of British Government policy in Ireland to employ people to be able to undermine the legitimate causes that many people had to seek their freedom and their aspirations and to have equality and justice, including social justice, in their country. It undermined that and it propagated conflict and division. The British state has now tried to cover that up. Even when we have an agreement and even when we are in a post-conflict situation, it continues to cover it up. The layers of cover-up are, in themselves, a crime against the many people who have been victims of this conflict. I acknowledge progress is slow. We know that but the problem we have here is that the Irish Government is a guarantor of the agreement and has a role to play in ensuring all the parts of the agreement, including the parts which are about delivering truth and reconciliation to people, are actually delivered.

To my mind, there is a direct line between the complicity and collusion of the British state and the British Empire with the genocide we have witnessed in Gaza over the past two years and the atrocities that were carried out by its agents, like Freddie Scappaticci committing murder, abducting people and so on while he was a British agent, through to Bloody Sunday and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and, if we want to, we can go right back and draw parallels with the role of the Auxiliaries and the Black and Tans during the Irish Revolution and the very same people being sent to Palestine to back to the Zionist move to partition Palestine. What is the common link? The link is the British Empire being involved in atrocity. The republican movement has questions to answer for sure but I find it interesting that the Irish Government's entire focus in this debate seems to be to score political points against Sinn Féin rather than to be concerned about the profound implications of the fact that the British state was running an agent like Scappaticci who was involved in killing and abducting people. He was protected. The Kenova report reveals the British state's protection of him led to far more deaths than any it might have claimed he was saving by running an agent within the IRA. It still refuses to really own up to the truth of its involvement in all of this, or even to name Scappaticci, in the same way as the victims of the atrocity in Derry on Bloody Sunday are still fighting for justice. They still have not got the truth and accountability they demanded from the British state because it wants to guarantee impunity and to protect the people guilty of atrocities that its agents carry out. Critically, in all of this, and this is the point I really want to make, while Operation Denton, the sort of subdivision of Kenova, is mentioned, there is far less focus from the Government on the fact that the Denton report has not been published. The families of the 34 victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings are absolutely furious about this because it was leaked in October two months before it was due to published. Now, who leaked it? As a result of that, it has still not been published. We know the report indicates that the Dublin and Monaghan bombings - the single biggest atrocity - were carried out by loyalist paramilitaries with the collusion of the British state. The report dealing with that atrocity is still not published and now is in limbo because it is subject to legal action because of the leak. That is why it has not been published when it was supposed to be published. After years of investment the families put into that process, co-operating with Denton, they are now denied the truth and justice they have been seeking for decades. They have no idea now and are left in limbo as to whether they will ever get the truth, justice and accountability. The signs are that they are not going to because is that not the pattern we see? The families of the Bloody Sunday victims got no real truth and accountability. Nobody is ever really held accountable. The British Government still will not even admit the true extent of its involvement with Scappaticci and other atrocities or similarly with the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. There are some very alarming things about this which I am surprised the Government does not highlight. The lawyers of the representatives of the victims of many of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings indicated that MI5 broke into the Denton headquarters while its review was being conducted. That is incredible. Even after all of this, after all of the atrocities, the collusion and the complicity with this kind of dirty tricks stuff, the report was leaked. Who leaked it? Then we have MI5 trying to break into the headquarters of Denton, the body set up to do this. That is just shocking. No expressions of outrage or determination on the part of the Irish Government that we are going to get to the bottom of this. Who received the draft report of Denton? It was the PSNI and the Garda. From what I understand, families think it is unlikely that anybody in Denton leaked the report, so the only other two groups that saw the draft report were the Garda and the PSNI. It was leaked to the Belfast Telegraph two months before it was due to be published and a podcast went out from the Belfast Telegraph about it as well. As a result, the actual report has not been published. The families, who are fighting for truth and justice, are at the centre of all this. The Taoiseach said: "The Government has consistently called for a victim-centred approach to legacy issues." Where is the victim-centred approach to this? The families have no idea when they are going to actually see the report. All the energy of the Government seems to be directed at scoring political points against Sinn Féin instead of at the British Government, the issue of the leaks and the lack of justice, truth and accountability for the victims of the single biggest atrocity, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. I find it extraordinary. There is a pattern, however. With the crimes of the British State and British Empire, there is never accountability. There is always impunity, just like there is for Israel. We also see it here in the Irish State. Can the Irish State please explain to me, or is it even concerned about the fact, that the investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was shut down after 11 weeks? All of the forensic material relating to the Dublin bombing was sent North to be given to the PSNI when we now know the British were colluding with the loyalist paramilitaries that carried it out. We outsourced responsibility for investigating this to the jurisdiction that we now know was responsible for colluding with the people who carried out the atrocity. The families seem to have a lot of faith in Denton. Whether that is justified or not, I do not know but even there, the investigation is essentially outsourced to another jurisdiction, rather than the Irish State itself taking responsibility for getting to the truth of these things. That leads to the Stardust issue today as well. What is at the heart of the anger that the Stardust families are expressing today is that a promise to engage with them on the process was reneged upon. There was a commitment to a second phase, to it not being a one-size-fits-all approach, to recognising the trauma and suffering and the State's responsibility in exacerbating that trauma and suffering the families are still going through, and the Government managed to do it again. After all the years of fighting for truth, justice and so on, the State insults the Stardust families again with an announcement that reneges on commitments that were made to the families. It is really shocking.

It is positive to have these statements in the House. The publication of the final Operation Kenova report forces us all to confront some of the darkest and most painful chapters in our history. It is an extensive, detailed and deeply disturbing examination of violence, collusion, institutional failure and, above all, a prolonged denial of truth for victims and their families. This report lays bare the brutal reality of the Provisional IRA's campaign of terror. It documents in stark detail the abduction, torture and execution of individuals suspected of informing. These were barbaric crimes that devastate families and communities until this day. That reality has to be acknowledged honestly and without hesitation. The report also exposes serious and deeply troubling failures by the British Government and its agencies. These are not minor administrative failings; they are failures that had life-and-death consequences. The findings surrounding the British Army agent known as Stakeknife are among the most shocking contained in this report. Kenova sets out how an individual strongly implicated in murder, torture and abduction was protected and facilitated by the British intelligence structures because he was considered a valuable asset. Intelligence was withheld. Opportunities to prevent killings were not taken. The report concludes that it is probable more lives were lost as a result of Stakeknife's continued operation than were saved. That is not just a simple historical controversy; it is fundamental moral and ethical failure by the British State. It lives on in communities like my own. What is even more unacceptable is the continuing refusal of the British Government to formally confirm the identity of this agent. This refusal persists despite a clear public interest case and the overwhelming demands of victims' families. The continued reliance on the policy of "Neither confirm nor deny" in this context is not about national security; it is about protecting institutions and people from accountability. Victims and families are entitled to ask simple and legitimate questions. Who knew? What did they know? Why were they allowed to act with apparent impunity? Disclosures from State records have suggested that knowledge existed between policing and republican circles about the agent's alleged involvement in the murder of a neighbour of ours at home, Cooley farmer Tom Oliver, years before the information became public. For the Oliver family and others like them, such revelations are not just academic. They represent decades of withheld truth and deepened trauma. The findings related to the Glenanne gang network are equally damning. The report confirms collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and members of the British security forces in what it describes as vicious and serious criminal activity, including bombings and murder. The collusion corroded confidence in policing and governance structures and inflicted profound and lasting harm. That network has been linked to atrocities including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, attacks on Belturbet and Castleblayney and the bombing of Dundalk, the 50th anniversary of which was in December last. Communities in County Louth and across the Border region continue to live with the legacy of those attacks. The pain of the families has never been diminished. The absence of full truth has prolonged their suffering and will continue to prolong that suffering until answers are heard. While the report states that it found no evidence of strategic state collusion in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the British Government still refuses to provide unrestricted access to all relevant documentation. That position is indefensible. Families have waited over 50 years. Any continued withholding of information cannot be justified by appeals to historical sensitivity or institutional protection. The Irish Government has consistently called for full disclosure through independent international judicial examination of all British-held records. That demand remains not only valid but absolutely urgent. The Kenova report can also demonstrate that accountability is still possible. It shows clearly that justice can still be pursued. The principle is straightforward. It has to be absolute. There can be no immunity for those responsible for murder, regardless of the passage of time or the institutions involved. The joint framework on legacy agreed between the Irish and British Governments commits both states to reciprocal co-operation, transparency and meaningful information recovery. The credibility of that framework now depends heavily on the actions of the British and Irish Governments. Words and commitments are no longer enough. Victims and survivors require tangible evidence of openness and absolute accountability. This accountability is not easy for the Irish Government or the British Government, but if we are going to move on and have a peaceful reunified Ireland, we have to face up to the atrocities that happened across this island. Addressing the legacy of the Troubles is not about opening the past. It remains open because truth has been denied for far too long and because communities like my own, on the Cooley Peninsula in north Louth, cannot move on with partial disclosure. We have to have full disclosure of information. This will be really difficult and hurtful but we have to face up to it. Operation Kenova has shown that independent investigation can uncover those uncomfortable truths. It has exposed the cost of delay, secrecy and institutional self-protection. The British Government must now confront those findings honestly and demonstrate a genuine commitment to full transparency. I ask the Minister to continue his work and stand firmly with those victims and the survivors, including families in Dundalk and north Louth, across County Louth and throughout this island. All they are asking for is truth, justice and for their loved ones to be remembered in the way they should be - for their life and not their death. They are not seeking vengeance; they are just seeking answers. After decades of waiting, those answers should not be withheld any longer.

I issue a fíor fáilte do na daoine ó Limerick West and Croom Active Retirement Association. They are very welcome to the Dáil.

I express my sympathy and solidarity with all the families who lost loved ones and those who campaign to this day for truth and justice. My time is brief so it would be impossible to touch on all periods of the conflict in the North that cry out for answers. The British Government would have us believe that it was a neutral peacekeeping force in the North of Ireland, but we know the British Government's security services were involved in hundreds of targeted assassinations and murders of Irish citizens in a dirty war conducted by agents like Stakeknife. Kenova was hindered at every turn by MI5 and the security apparatus of the British state, but it could not hide the truth that collusion was very real and went to the highest levels of the British state. Like Operation Denton, it exposes the criminality, collusion and cover-up that was the pattern of the British war in Ireland. Iain Livingstone is on public record as saying, "I can say categorically there was collusion. We know that to be true". The families of those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Miami Showband massacre in 1975 and other atrocities deserve the truth. The Irish Government must insist that all material evidence and other relevant information provided to and examined by Kenova, and other such operations, are now made available to the Irish authorities without further delay. I worked for years with Justice for the Forgotten, an organisation representing the families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. We still do not have all the answers about what happened on 17 May 1974, when a car bomb went off in Monaghan and three others went off in Dublin city centre, one only a couple of hundred yards from where I now stand. The publication of the Kenova report does not draw a line under this period of our history. It only shows the need for greater transparency and accountability. The absence of a truth commission at the heart of the peace process is the greatest obstacle to getting answers for those families. Republicans have never opposed this. Perhaps it is not too late for the British and Irish Governments to come together to form such a process. Who is blocking truth emerging? That is the big question we ask today. Who is blocking truth emerging? It is not republicans and the Irish Government says it is not it, so who is blocking truth about the conflict that happened in Ireland? We need a truth commission now. We called for it 20 years ago. Thirty years ago, people were talking about a truth commission emerging post conflict. That has not happened. It needs to happen if we are to move on.

I welcome Croom Active Retirement Association. It was a mystery tour they were on today. My mother-in-law is on it, so I am in big trouble because I never let her know where she was going. It just goes to show I can keep a secret.

You might get a pass.

I might get a pass for this one. Well done to Croom Active Retirement Association. Among all the women who are here today, and there are over 30 of them, there is only one man. He is outnumbered, so he is a brave man. I welcome them and hope they have a fantastic tour. We are here to talk about Kenova. We are here to talk about atrocities through our history, where collusion and cover-ups have caused devastation to families. What we have to do now is make sure there is accountability. In addition to accountability, families want full disclosure. No matter how horrific it is they want full disclosure now. They also want accountability from the people for when the collusion went on. We have seen that through collusion there were assassinations of people. It has gone on long enough now. People and families want full closure for their own families. They want to see the hypocrisy of cover-ups stop. We have seen cover-ups here in Ireland that went on for years upon years and how soul-destroying it is for people. Eventually, after tribunal after tribunal, things come out and people put up their hands and say sorry. This has gone on over 50 years now and this is still going around in circles. I ask that the Irish and British Governments please give full disclosure. Full accountability is needed to make sure the remaining families get full disclosure. It would mean they could get closure, knowing that people did not die in vain. That is what it comes down to now. I ask the Minister to do whatever he can within his own strengths and powers, as well as the Government. We want closure for these people but to get closure, we need full disclosure for all the families.

This is a really serious issue. It is an issue the Irish Government has not done the right thing on for a number of years. I will give a couple of reasons. There are three elements to all this. There is what has happened in the Troubles in relation to Irish citizens; what the role of the British state was in those actions; and what exactly the Irish Government did to make sure justice and truth were achieved for families. For years, we have known that families have been fighting for truth and justice in the North of Ireland. In many families now, the original generation has passed on and it is the children who have taken up the campaigns for truth and justice in the North of Ireland. Kenova has exposed, incredibly, the fact that British governments were behind much of the difficulties experienced in the dirty war in the North. The British did not just watch what happened. They were involved in what happened, they participated and they protected their agents who were involved in these actions. Recently, we saw the legacy Act pass through Westminster under the Conservative Party. That legacy Act was the son and heir of the cover-ups that originally happened 30, 40 and 50 years ago, but it was worse because at least 30, 40 or 50 years ago the British Government tried to put blue water between itself, the actions and the cover-up. Now, it is the British Government itself authoring the cover-up of what happened. One of the big problems that exists in that legislation is it allows the British Secretary of State to prevent investigations and inquests. My problem here, and this is important so the Minister might just listen to this one bit of my speech if he can, is that is still in the new legislation. In the new legislation, which is a lot better than the previous legislation, the British Secretary of State can still, for national security reasons, prevent an investigation happening. If the Minister were in court, and another politician had the right to determine whether he had an investigation into what happened, he would be frustrated, he would feel it was wrong and he would say it was not justice. It cannot be allowed that the current legacy Bill going through Westminster will leave a British politician to make a decision over whether there is an investigation. It is not that we do not know what the likely outcome is going to be because the British Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, has already gone to court numerous times to stop an investigation or inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown. The Brown family have been in and out of court, dozens of times at this stage, trying to get an inquiry into what happened to Sean Brown outside Bellaghy football club in the nineties. Yet, now the family has to traipse over to the supreme court in London to fight their case to see if they can get justice. To create legislation that gives a right to a British secretary of state to say "No" to an investigation, when we know this particular individual has already said "No" to investigations, is wrong. This legislation stems from the joint framework document, which is an agreement between the Irish and British Governments. If it proceeds in the manner in which it is going, it will be damaging. I was in Washington DC recently where I spoke to six congressmen and women from the Republican and Democratic Parties about this and they agreed that is a problem with this legislation. There are also concerns about what protections will be given to British army veterans. If those protections are simply that an elderly individual gives evidence at a distance in an electronic format, I do not think people will have difficulty with them. However, we must remember a big section of the British media and political establishment wants to protect their veterans. I saw the Tories came out recently and said there should not be any case where their veterans are prosecuted. We are only looking for the guilty ones to be prosecuted. We do not want the innocent ones to be prosecuted. There is a problem, in that the Irish Government has let the British Government away with this on many occasions. I am thinking about the Glenanne gang especially. The Glenanne gang and British security forces were involved in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the biggest loss of life of the Troubles, which unfolded close to where we are at the moment. In the subsequent investigation in this State, forensics were sent North and disappeared, files went missing and the investigation was closed within ten weeks. Motions have been passed a number of times in this House demanding the British Government make the necessary files on this available and it has refused to do so. Denise Mullen is a former Aontú councillor from Dungannon. At the age of four, she stood at her house while her father was shot dead by the Glenanne gang and the east brigade of the Tyrone UVF. Her father bled out over hours while she was with him. The O'Dowd brothers live beside me in County Meath. Members of their family were murdered by the Glenanne gang. There is an instinct, especially on the part of the Minister's party leader at times, to focus on IRA actions rather than British actions. At times, there is more political benefit in the coffins created by the IRA than those created by the British Government and that is wrong. There should be no difference between victims of the Troubles

Go raibh maith agat.

All Troubles victims should be fought for equally.

I welcome the publication of the final report of Operation Kenova. It brings me back to a different time many years ago when I was a younger man and became aware of collusion suggestions, British spy networks in the North and the report by former inspector John Stalker, whom the younger generation may not remember. It is worth using search engines to see the work he did, how that work was impeded and the resulting measures that were taken. In summary, in 1986, just before John Stalker, who was chief constable of Manchester police - he was not an inspector - was to make his final report on the issues I just mentioned, he was removed from his position in charge of the inquiry he led. That was in June. Later in June, he was suspended from duty over allegations of associating with criminals. Shortly afterwards, in August, he was cleared of those allegations and returned to duty, but critically he was not reinstated as head of the inquiry he was removed from. That inquiry was taken over by Colin Sampson of West Yorkshire Police and its findings were never made public. One cannot help but think of the words of de Valera in response to Churchill at the end of the war when he said that, more than occasionally in our history, there has been a danger that Britain's necessity would become a moral code. I will not get knee deep in or wade into issues that are sensitive, but I will make one point. In the contemporary climate where the country and the Government need to engage seriously on topics of defence and national security, there has to be a sensitivity that the words "defence" and "security" have a completely different resonance in the Republic of Ireland than they may have in the Six Counties. The Kenova report demonstrates exactly why that is the case. There are lingering suspicions and lingering mistrust, there are a number of unfinished chapters in the history of the relationship between the two islands and plenty of unfinished business needs to be undertaken. There is nothing particularly radical, dramatic or hyperbolic in that statement. Returning to the report in hand, for those who might be watching and wondering, as some of my staff were this morning, what was Operation Kenova, we know it covered a number of operations. It was a group of independent investigations from about 2016 into Troubles-related murders, torture, kidnappings and alleged collusion involving paramilitaries and British state actors. It can be seen as an umbrella for four investigations, namely, Operation Kenova, Operation Denton, Operation Turma and Operation Mizzenmast. The essential summary points of these four investigations were as follows. Operation Kenova looked at the actions of Stakeknife - it is a name we all grew up with but younger people might not be familiar with it - a British agent in the internal security unit of the Provisional IRA. Its focus was on whether murders and torture were allowed in order to protect the agent. The report of Operation Kenova contains strong criticism of the IRA's use of intimidation and violence. Operation Denton looked into the activities of the Glenanne Gang. It reviewed killings by a loyalist network involving UVF, RUC and UDR members. When reading these things, it strikes me that these acronyms are probably completely alien to a modern audience, yet we grew up listening to them every day on every news network. That is a tribute to all those who engaged in bringing and building peace and persuading others of the need for peace. These reports look at some of the unfinished business of that process. The Glenanne Gang was believed to have been responsible for up to 120 murders, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. This operation report confirms serious collusion and intelligence-sharing by security forces. No evidence of political level collusion was found. There was no evidence of British state involvement in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, although it has not been definitively excluded, which is a critical point. Operation Turma was an investigation into the 1982 murder of three RUC officers. It led to a prosecution and an extradition this year. The key point arising from that is that, in some cases, historic prosecutions remain possible. Operation Mizzenmast examined the 1972 killing of Jean Smyth-Campbell and alleged failures in the original investigation. It highlighted long-standing issues with how certain killings were handled by the security forces. Operation Kenova allows us another layer of acknowledgement of harm and suffering that was visited on people on both sides, particularly the traumas faced by victims and families across all communities. That is recognised. Forgive me, a Chathaoirleach Gníomhach. I did not realise there was a second Government speaker, so I will wrap up on that. The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach might allow a bit more time.

We will.

I commend the authors and investigators of Kenova. The report has been a long time coming. Many families have waited on this. Much was banking on it. This report once again shows the depth of the brutality and callousness to which innocent people and communities were subjected during the Troubles. The scars, some of which are obvious and some of which are not, will be carried for generations. These acts were neither justified nor justifiable, whether committed by paramilitaries or members of the security forces, whether they wore a uniform or not. The report finds collusion involved vicious and serious criminal activity, including bombings and murder, and that paramilitary groups were regularly supplied with intelligence by members of the security forces. It also confirms, as noted in the interim report, that the Provisional IRA engaged in the wanton use of torture and murder. We are talking about murder, torture, kidnapping and extreme violence. The human cost of these crimes can never be overstated. The approach to legacy in recent years has damaged confidence in the rule of law in Northern Ireland. The rule of law was integral to the work of the Good Friday Agreement and after it to set up institutions. We always have to be on the side of the rule of law. Until truth and accountability are prioritised over protecting perpetrators, we cannot genuinely move forward as a society and build reconciliation. Kenova has been the light amidst the dark in recent years. It is designed as a full criminal standard investigation that has won the trust of victims. Kenova has emphasised that the report should be a blueprint for future legacy work and I agree. It has shown clearly that no organisation responsible for killing should be able to block a victim's pathway to truth and justice. The UK Parliament's Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said strongly this week that it recommends that the British Government formally identify Stakeknife. I wholeheartedly agree. It is appropriate, proportionate and in the public interest, and it shows that no one can expect to be protected in their actions. We are always coming back to a place of national vetoes on information and we need maximum disclosure and for all parties to be willing to stand for truth, to be brave enough to give truth to victims' families and to assist in reconciliation. We do not need a framework for paramilitaries to come forward and provide information to families; they could be doing that. I always want to finish with my connection to the McVeigh family in Donaghmore and to Columba, who has been missing for 50 years. That family is not looking for revenge. They just want to bring Columba home and bury him in my village of Donaghmore. They had another dig this summer and it was unsuccessful. I urge once again that anyone who stands up in this Chamber or anywhere else who talks about truth, accountability, the rule of law and justice for families remembers families like the McVeighs. I sincerely hope that we can build a framework and system of justice and truth for families.

I want to state clearly that we absolutely need truth and reconciliation for all of our people who came through the conflict, but one huge missing piece is the role of the British state. I want to take the Minister through the assassination of an elected representative in this State. Councillor Eddie Fullerton was assassinated in May 1991. His family pursued a justice campaign for many years, patiently and determinedly. That led to Operation Greenwich, which was published by the Police Ombudsman in the North in January 2022. It took so long because the investigators in the ombudsman's office had uncovered a much wider conspiracy than just the assassination of Councillor Eddie Fullerton. It is absolutely clear now that British military agents were directly involved in the assassination of Councillor Eddie Fullerton. At least two British military agents would have killed Eddie and I believe another was present in the operation. They did not just kill Eddie Fullerton. They killed Councillor Bernard O'Hagan. They killed Sinn Féin members and republican leaders across Donegal, in the case of Councillor Eddie Fullerton, County Derry, County Antrim and west Tyrone, in a period of just over four years. I want the Minister to pay close attention to what I am about to say to him about one man in particular because we have not talked about this before one-to-one. I have raised it with all the Minister's predecessors. In the Operation Greenwich report, please note Person K. I am clear that I may name him in this place at some stage. Person K was a British military agent who was overseeing the operation where Councillor Eddie Fullerton was assassinated. He oversaw the murders of 17 people and the attempted murders of seven. Up until the Greysteel massacre, he was a useful agent for the British in that he killed Sinn Féin members, Sinn Féin elected representatives and republican leaders, but in Greysteel, he went solo. He totally oversaw the operation. We have a situation where the man who drove the car named Person K. The man who gave the weapons to the RUC afterwards named Person K. Person K's fingerprints were on the weapons used in the Greysteel massacre, yet Person K was never charged because Person K was a British military agent. Even after the Greysteel massacre, he was not dealt with. If you look at the end of that report from January 2022, this was reported to the PSNI . At the end of that report, the Police Ombudsman's office confirms that it passed this file over to the PSNI in 2016. Ten years later, I want to know what the PSNI has done about the actions of Person K. Some day, I will name Person K in this Chamber. I challenge the Minister to get those answers. How did this man get away with all of that?

I too am glad to speak on the Kenova report. I compliment the people who researched and presented it. We have had a long history here as well as in the North of Ireland and the UK. We are not so squeaky clean here. I compliment the Minister. Since he came into the Department of justice, he seems to have been making stellar efforts to have a more hands-on, open, honest and transparent approach, which is badly needed. The Sean Brown case was mentioned, which was so sad because Sean Brown, to everybody's knowledge, had nothing to do with any political party but was a GAA man through and through. He was out locking up his GAA club, as many volunteers across the Thirty-two Counties do. It is our national game. He was so cruelly executed. If we have legislation here as a result of this or in the future, we cannot possibly have a situation like that under the UK legislation, which gives the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a veto on what can be debated, discussed or raised. That cannot happen. We know there is a murky past since the time of the War of Independence and Civil War, and indeed long before that. One could go back to the Famine. There are all these cases. I think of The Miami Showband. Some of them were from Carrick-on-Suir in my own constituency. There was a vicious assassination attempt on a group that was giving entertainment to all people. I have been in Donaghmore in Tyrone many times. Deputy Currie mentioned her own case there. That should be sorted. There are too many cases where too much trauma and anguish have been bestowed on families. I remember a case in Aughnacloy involving another young man who was just going to work in a town in Monaghan walking through a checkpoint. The name eludes me but the story told was that a British soldier's rifle slipped because it was a wet day and the bullet ricocheted off the ground. This was an absurd lie. A gentleman worked with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in a meat factory in Monaghan at the time and was harassed every day going up and down through the Border point at Aughnacloy. I passed through that Border point hundreds of times myself. It has affected so many others as well. There is also the case of the Dublin-Monaghan bombs and the Glenanne gang. I happened to be in Dublin on that particular day on a school tour. That was a scary event. There has been no truth on that either. The Omagh bombing, on which the Minister and I differed in opinion a number of times, was an atrocity. I was on my way to Omagh that day and I got there the morning after when there such devastation. I worked closely with Michael Gallagher and others over the years and they are fighting for justice as well. I know the Minister has moved the case affecting Lucia Farrell on. It has nothing to do with paramilitarism but what happened to her son Shane, who went out for a cycle, was a travesty of injustice. The driver of that car and his accomplices had numerous custodial sentences hanging over them, were stopped at a Garda checkpoint and should not have been allowed to go on. We saw the battle that Lucia Farrell has had on her hands to try and get justice for her lovely son, who was swept away unceremoniously. I welcome a group from Coláiste Dún Iascaigh in Cahir to the Public Gallery. I hope they enjoy their trip to the Dáil and Dublin.

I thank all the Deputies who contributed. It is important at the outset to ask what the purpose of legacy is and what the purpose of Denton and Kenova, which we are discussing today, was. The purpose is to provide answers for families that never got justice and whose family members were killed in brutal circumstances in what everyone can agree was a dirty war on the part of everyone who participated in it. That is the purpose of legacy. There is a further purpose, which is to try to improve and enhance reconciliation so that there can be greater understanding between communities who, to be blunt, were involved in a bloody sectarian campaign and conflict that took place in Northern Ireland for 30 years. That is the purpose of legacy. There is a legitimate objective and political purpose why politicians and governments are seeking to pursue investigations into the past so we can get answers for loved ones who have not been provided with answers today What is the danger of legacy? The danger of legacy is that we just use legacy for our own narrow political purposes. We cannot do that. If we are going to allow the past to be the territory on which the modern conflict is contested, there is no point in having any involvement in the legacy process. Regrettably, it is the case that we do allow the past to be used for our own political purposes. I always listen to Deputy Mac Lochlainn. I mean that. I always listen to him because I think he has very strong contributions to make. Maybe it was just because that he was the last speaker prior to the Acting Chairman but as an example of legacy, Deputy Mac Lochlainn referred to the outrageous murder of Eddie Fullerton, who was an elected politician. We need to remember as well that other politicians such as Robert Bradford and Billy Fox were also murdered. If we are going to have legacy and if it is going to work effectively, we cannot just decide individually that it suits my political agenda to refer to some legacy crimes from the past and not mention others. We need to have a much broader perspective of what is involved in legacy. What will be really difficult is people politically getting behind legacy inquiries into areas that make them feel uncomfortable. I am here as the representative of the Irish Government and I have to answer for the Irish Government. When I have had meetings with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, I refer to his responsibility and the fact that he has answers that would be of benefit to people who were victims in Dublin and Monaghan. We have to be able to recognise that the political representatives of the Provisional IRA are Sinn Féin. That is not a party political point; that is a fact. In terms of trying to get answers for the actions of the Provisional IRA and for the crimes that were committed by the Provisional IRA, Sinn Féin has to answer that in the same way as I answer on behalf of the Irish Government or indeed Hilary Benn has to answer on behalf of the British Government. I listened very carefully to the leader of Sinn Féin. She said she was sorry. She said she was sorry for all the lives lost. I presume, interpret and hope it means that she is apologising for the murders perpetrated by the Provisional IRA. If that is so, it is a positive development. We need to move on from our comfort zones in respect of our legacy. I have been in discussions with the British Government in terms of trying to get agreement on the legacy framework. It is extremely difficult. I heard Deputy Tóibín say earlier that we should not allow the British Government to introduce legislation that enables X, Y or Z. Obviously, neither I nor anyone else in this House can control the legislation that is enacted in the British Parliament, just as the British cannot control the legislation that is enacted here. However, I can tell the House that the opportunity that exists at present for a real and thorough legacy inquiry is much better now than it was with the previous British Government and we need to avail of this opportunity. We also need to recognise that when it comes to investigating the past, the passage of time affects it. This is what is so painful for the families involved in this who have experienced the lack of justice for 30 or more years. When I meet the families of victims, I try to be honest and straight with them and say that, on many occasions, people do not get the justice that they deserve or the justice they want. In most cases relating to the atrocities and murders perpetrated in the past in Northern Ireland, the ones that have not been solved to date, where people have not been brought to the courts, the likelihood is that they will not be brought to justice. That does not diminish the benefit that can come from inquiries and investigations. We saw that with regard to Kenova in respect of Freddie Scappaticci. I read Kenova and I also read Richard O'Rawe's book. It is an horrific example of how lives were viewed as being so dispensable and so unimportant that people were able to allow Freddie Scappaticci to kill in such a relaxed way that it was not an issue. I criticised the British Government for allowing that and I criticised the Provisional IRA for being the parties that were colluding in the murders that were perpetrated by Freddie Scappaticci. When we are dealing with legacy, we have to be able to speak truthfully about issues. I know everyone comes to every debate with their own political objective but there will be no resolution of the legacy issue unless people are prepared to take on board uncomfortable truths and people are prepared to look to see that the entity they represent has answers to give in respect of this matter. In my engagement with victims and families in Troubles-related cases, they have told me that they feel time is running out for them and they are looking for truth and accountability. The reality is that, in many instances, the information that is available will not be retained in a document, on a written piece of paper or in files that will be handed over. It is available to people who are still alive and who are still involved in it. That is why we all have to try to play our role in urging people who have information to give that information and bring it forward. There are people in the North who have information and could provide assistance in terms of truth and reconciliation. We may not have yet provided that forum where that can happen. There are many people trying to think of mechanisms for it to be provided, but I would have thought that the last show in town is the legacy framework that at present is being worked on by the British Government and in respect of which I also will be bringing forward legislation again. I intend to bring forward legislation in this House to give effect to the responsibilities that will lie upon this State. I accept my responsibility. Others have to accept theirs and encourage others who have information to come forward with it. An Garda Síochána has established a unit as is required for the investigations of Troubles-related incidents. The Commissioner has been centrally involved in putting that in place. We need to ensure that where we can have investigations, those investigations take place. If we are going to allow legacy to be simply another battleground on which the green and orange politics of Northern Ireland are fought, we might as well give up. It is of no benefit to anyone because it will all be about whataboutery. We have to acknowledge our responsibility. Everyone in this House has a responsibility. Some have greater responsibilities than others in terms of what happened in the past and we cannot run away from the responsibility for the terrible things that were done on this island for a period of 30 years. When you look back on it, you wonder what it was all about. To get to the Good Friday Agreement? We did not need thousands of people to be killed to get to the Good Friday Agreement. It is depressing. I know it is hard for people who were involved in the violence to ask that question: what was it all about? It is a question that maybe does not need to be answered, but, ultimately, if we want to move on and try to achieve some form of reconciliation and unity, we are going to have to look at this in a more selfless way and stop trying to just advance our own interests.

That was a very interesting contribution. It is a good day to welcome the transition year students from Coláiste Dún Iascaigh in Cahir and their teachers Rachel Burke and Anne Hickey. They are very welcome and I hope they enjoy their visit.